Chris Stark’s new novel Carnival Lights offers a wild ride unlike any other in the history of Native American literature. Set in 1969, it plays fast and loose with time, continually juxtaposing the present with the past, fulfilling William Faulkner’s statement that “The past is never dead; it’s not even past.” The two main characters, teenage cousins ​​Sher and Kris, exist in a world where everything is a reminder of tragedies, but also of family, love, and the cultural teachings of their Ojibwa heritage in their native Minnesota. As they try to run away from the past and create a new future for themselves without any preparation for the real world, they find threats surrounding them on all sides. Even the dazzling carnival lights of the Minnesota State Fair hold little promise, although they are drawn to them like moths to a flame.

While Sher and Kris’s story is a fairly simple narrative about running away from home, because Kris is abused by her father and struggles to make a living working at the fair, while trying to avoid the many dangers that surround them, mainly from white men. layer upon layer of history, meaning and pain is added to his story. Throughout the novel, we meet many of the girls’ relatives, some living, some long dead, and learn their stories, stories aptly described in Sher’s memory, but mixed with images from the popular culture of the American natives:

“She listened to the stories about her family. Her people. Dying of disease and starvation in the 19th century until only a handful survived deep in the jungle, and the other handful disappeared into televisions and food boxes in villages. from the surroundings, mixing with whites until the only way you knew they were Indian was through facial features that appeared white at first glance, but upon closer examination, the eyes, cheeks, and foreheads seemed drawn and drawn. angled in a way that made them look as if they were in a state of discomfort at never belonging anywhere.”

And within the stories of the Sher people, within the stories of Carnival Lights, the whole story of Minnesota is told and the story of white American relations with Native Americans, and a distorted sense of history, and a new perspective on Native Americans. might ever consider. Author Chris Stark subtly drops native perspective bombs throughout the novel. Set in the summer of 1969, the moon landing offers a perfect opportunity to drop such a bombshell when Sher and Kris’s grandmother expresses her disbelief at the moon landing: “Yeah, sure. They’re on the moon now planting their flag. White the people say anything and take everything. Other bombs are historical facts the reader may not be aware of, including Indian babies being sold to white couples on the Great Lakes, babies who will grow up not knowing for years that they are Indian. And L. Frank Baum, author of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, advocating in the newspapers read in Minnesota for the final destruction of Native Americans.

And then there are the literal bombs, or at least the rockets. Stark layers in all sorts of little-known details about American history, waking her from her dream to discover the ugliness beneath so much of her. Among those ugly truths are the rockets on display at the Minnesota State Fair, rockets worked on by Nazi scientists that the United States saved to do its own bidding. Nazi scientists who helped bring about the US conquest of the moon

And while 1969 may seem like history to readers, Stark’s depiction of Vietnam War protests in Minneapolis, including police attacks on protesters, sends shockwaves into the present with reminders of the recent Minneapolis riots. following the death of George Floyd. What kind of carnival is this that Stark offers his readers? It’s more fun house than fun, with a distorted story to watch at every turn, every time we look in the mirror of the past, we only have Stark to help us refocus on the truth reflected in that image.

The white facade of white America is continually seen as dirty or dirty, as a false facade, as we see Native Americans, blacks, Jews, Germans trying to escape the horrors of World War II, and homosexuals and two-spirited individuals , all flipping through the pages of the novel, each trying to find their place in a melting pot that cannot assimilate them because it refuses to accept what it sees as their imperfections.

Examples of failed assimilation are peppered throughout the novel. In one passage, we are told that during the worst winters, Sher’s family would give away the last of her reserves to other families, both Indian and white:

“That very thing, the bounty, which the government had hoped to cure by stealing Indian lives, roads, and lands and then giving the surviving Indians tar paper shacks, farms, and the white man’s religion. How many memos they generated: the Indian in his simplicity will give away the last of his clothes, food and feather trinkets that seem to be of great value to him without thinking of how he will survive. This can be cured by teaching him property so that the Indian can also become civilized. in the ways of the white man.”

On their journey, Sher and Kris meet Jacob, a young gay Jew who dreams of being Ginger Rogers, who dreams of finding his own Fred Astaire to sing, dance with and spin for him in “A Place Where Boys Loved Boys”. Boys”. , a place where he was not the only one.” However, Jacob has to assimilate and try to survive as well.

At one point, Sher concludes, “It seemed like every time they turned around, there was another white guy trying to hurt them.” And when the novel’s characters are hurt, a new wound opens old wounds, reflecting generations of pain. When a character hears shocking news, we are told, “Em’s grief flared and burned deep, trapping the pain of the slain and missing ancestors he had never known, creating a fire as big as a forest in the young Indian woman’s blood.” “.

Carnival Lights is a powerful, lyrical and epic testament to the history of the Ojibwe in Minnesota and all Native Americans. It’s the northern equivalent of Toni Morrison’s Beloved. It’s a nightmare sneaking up behind the glow of the middle of the road. It is an awakening for anyone who dares to lift the veil of the past to find the truth that festers beneath. Because only when that truth is known can healing begin. It’s too late for Chris Stark’s characters to come to light, but through the illumination the novel offers, it may not be too late for the rest of us.